The Odd Future Tape Vol. 2: Odd Future’s Apex
Tyler the Creator, Frank Ocean, Syd tha Kid and Tha Internet, and Earl Sweatshirt are all well established names in the hip-hop community, with Tyler and Frank specifically enjoying plenty of crossover success. All of these names, plus many more, once made up one of the most talented collectives to exist: Odd Future.
With the nine-year anniversary of The OF Tape Vol. 2 landing earlier this week, it reminded me of all the excitement that surrounded the album leading up to its release, as well as all the praise it got after.
But The OF Tape Vol. 2 doesn’t exist in a vacuum; a lot of that excitement I mentioned had been building over the years. In just a few years of existence, Odd Future had become ridiculously popular thanks to the help of some teenage antics, and the internet.
Really, “ridiculously popular,” still feels like an understatement. Disclaimer, I was apart of the fanbase and Odd Future came up during my formative years, so I’m definitely at least a little bit biased. That being said, if you were to look back at OF’s achievements with context, you’d (hopefully) see how impressive they are.
So back to The OF Tape Vol. 2, the album that feels sort of like the peak for OF, for a couple of reasons, ones that will hopefully be very clear by the end of this piece.
Odd Future: You Had to be There
Odd Future came into existence in 2007, then consisting of Tyler, Casey Veggies, Left Brain, Hodgy Beats, Vritra (f.k.a. Pyramid Vritra), Matt Martians, and Jasper Dolphin. In 2008, Odd Future released The Odd Future Tape, which kicked off what would become a Wu-Tang Clan/MCU style rollout of mixtapes and albums. In relation to the title, Tyler would release his debut solo project Bastard in 2009 at 17 years old and take the internet by storm.
Bastard is very lo-fi, with almost all the beats self-produced by Tyler on a copy of FL Studio (fans have since recreated various songs from the album using just the default plugins on the program), and entirely recorded in Syd tha Kid’s house. Bastard also has some intense, vulgar lyrics that also include homophobic slurs and violence against women. This is where the Odd Future story becomes…tricky.
With hindsight, we can safely say that the lyrics were a manifestation of anger and teenage rebellion: OF didn’t actually condone those things, and in the years since, many of their members have actually come out as LGBT themselves. What you’d hear on any OF song were teens/young adults intentionally saying things to illicit a reaction, mostly because they thought it was funny, but also because there was actually some genuine frustration and anger that had to be channeled some way.
But again, that is with hindsight and understanding of who these rowdy kids were. That didn’t exist in 2008, so the group was often thrown into various controversies about their lyrics. The notion that there’s no such thing as bad publicity definitely applied to OF, as Bastard would help land the group several opportunities, like a partnership with the clothing brand Supreme and a slew of articles and think pieces (both good and bad).
The group was everywhere online, and Tyler was at the forefront of it. Following Bastard, more familiar faces would join the OF lineup: Frank Ocean, Earl Sweatshirt, Domo Genesis, and Mike G all joined in the immediate years following Bastard.
In general, 2010 was a pivotal year for the gang, as several more mixtapes dropped and only grew their fanbase like Frank Ocean’s Nostalgia, ULTRA, MellowHype’s (Hodgy and Left Brain) YelloWhite, Domo’s Rolling Papers, Earl Sweatshirt’s Earl, Mike G’s Ali, and Radicals (which features every OF member at the time, in some capacity). The group also got booked for shows in New York City and London, the first of what would become multiple European stops. The wheels were starting to turn, and they were turning FAST.
Goblin Drops
Bastard also led to Tyler being signed to XL Records in 2010, which only helped with the name recognition, as Tyler and the rest of Odd Future now had access to more outlets and business opportunities, and more money for production as well.
2010 saw the release of Tyler’s single “Sandwiches” for his upcoming sophomore album, Goblin, but just a few months later, Tyler came back with his second single: “Yonkers.” And “Yonkers” is officially when things got CRAZY.
With a major label and an already dedicated fanbase, when the music video for “Yonkers” came out, it blew up. It was everywhere on Twitter, hip-hop forums, Tumblr, and even Facebook. Very suddenly, people who had never even heard of Tyler, the Creator and Odd Future were suddenly bombarded with this gritty, unsettling music video with an equally unorthodox song to go with it. That polarizing reaction hip-hop bloggers were having was almost instantaneously amplified by 100.
Just like how the unsuspecting public had a visceral reaction to “Yonkers,” a young Tyler (about age 18/19 at the time) had a visceral reaction to the public. Also, I’d being doing Odd Future a disservice if I didn’t bring up the fact that they (and their fans) felt that a lot of the criticism they were getting was do in part because they were Black.
Odd Future were not the first group to have obscene, offensive lyrics and music videos, far from it. Yet, when these young Black artists started to get the earliest signs of a buzz, media around the world came down on them as if they were Eminem at his peak.
Both the intro track “Goblin,” and the outro track “Golden” see Tyler talking about the affects of his newfound fame on his life, as well as trying to explain himself to a whole new audience that didn’t get where he was coming from (Tyler and Hodgy performed on Jimmy Fallon just two days after the “Yonkers” video).
While Goblin may or may not have aged well (according to Tyler himself), at the time it was widely considered to be a moment in terms of the internet’s role in hip-hop. The OF mania continued to rise exponentially after the album, thanks again to the unique sounds that combined cheesy 1970s sounding synthesizers with over-the-top trap music parodies, and the new OF members’ chemistry with Tyler, like “She,” which is the first officially credited collaboration between Tyler and Frank Ocean (the two had several uncredited appearances on some of those 2010 mixtapes).
Although, one thing (or rather, one person) was missing from Goblin: Earl Sweatshirt.
“Free Earl”
Remember that Earl mixtape I mentioned earlier? Yeah, that had a bunch of consequences that I couldn’t smoothly touch on, the whole situation is very nuanced and deserved its own section.
Earl Sweatshirt’s early projects were described by The New York Times as being a combination of Eminem’s humor and Lil Wayne’s wordplay (Earl himself has also cited the late MF Doom as a huge inspiration). Going back to what we already said about Odd Future’s lyrics, Earl in particular was the most…shocking, I guess, for lack of a better word.
Because Earl is such a talented storyteller, he would paint more “vivid” depictions of the obscene. Give any track from Earl a listen and within about 30 seconds you’ll see what I’m talking about. While this made him a fan favorite, it also got him in trouble in his personal life.
Due to a combination of personal falling outs, behavioral issues, and his lyrical content, Earl, who was around 15/16 at the time, was sent to Coral Reef Academy, a retreat for at-risk boys in Samoa. Again, all of this information only came out to the public after the fact, but at the time no one knew what happened to Earl Sweatshirt.
Quite literally, the music video for “Earl” came out one day, and Earl himself was gone a few days later, with no real warning beforehand. Earl was out of the public eye for about two years, with no public knowledge of his situation other than the, “Free Earl,” mantra that Tyler and the rest of Odd Future would occasionally mention in various songs and media between 2010-12.
One thing that was very clear from the start was how Earl’s absence affected Tyler. Tyler repeatedly called Earl his little brother in songs from that era, and he was the loudest proponent of “Free Earl.” Tyler’s track “Nightmare” on Goblin talks at length about this specifically, and there are other references sprinkled throughout the album.
Avengers, Assemble
While Goblin was undoubtedly the biggest Odd Future release around this time, the other members weren’t slouching. Hodgy, Left Brain, and Domo all refined their respective skillsets, becoming more solid acts individually, and collectively.
Matt Martians, along with Syd, formed The Internet, another sub-group that still makes some really high tier neo-soul/R&B music to this day. The Internet, as well as Frank Ocean provided another layer to the more musical, laid-back tracks that Tyler would dabble in at the time, and gave diversity to the group’s sound.
OF’s collection of talent and personalities also got them a 15-minute sketch/prank show on Adult Swim in 2011, Loiter Squad. The show only ran for three seasons, but it was a huge deal to see this collection of kids get a real show on TV by just being themselves, despite the steady stream of negative press.
With everyone’s newly honed skills, and still-growing popularity via Loiter Squad, the group came together for their only commercial studio album in 2011: The OF Tape Vol. 2.
Recording took place over the course of two weeks, and according to Tyler himself, the philosophy was to just make something they all collectively enjoyed and were happy with, criticism be damned.
The end result was like The Avengers at the peak of their powers: the album debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and criticism across the board was mostly positive. The diverse skillset provided by all the other members gave something for everyone to enjoy.
What’s more, the music videos from this era once again did wonders for OF, particularly the video for “Rella.” “Rella’s” music video perhaps is the best encapsulation of everything OF at the time, and once again, it was exposed to the crowd outside of the usual OF circles. However, whereas “Yonkers” turned heads due to its grit and off-putting aesthetic, “Rella” was a fever dream, with nonsensical visuals, a persistent color palette, a legendary Kanye rant, and some incredibly GIF-able shots.
And, to top it all off, The OF Tape Vol. 2’s closing track “Oldie” featured the unexpected return of Earl Sweatshirt, who delivers probably the best verse on the entire album. Having Earl back was a much-needed boost to Odd Future. They weren’t struggling without him, but no one would be happy to have their closest friend sent away with minimal communication for a year and some change.
The OF Tape Vol. 2 was accompanied by a tour across the U.S., which was documented on YouTube in a series of videos. The 2012 Odd Future tour videos are some of the best time capsules on the internet; each one shows the crew’s personality in different ways, the energy at their shows, and just how dedicated the fanbase was in each stop they made.
“We’ll Never Be Those Kids Again”
Unfortunately, there wouldn’t be a follow up to The OF Tape Vol. 2. Tyler released his third album, Wolf, a little over a year later, and a lot of the OF members who were present for The OF Tape Vol. 2 made appearances on the tracks.
Truth be told, this article was originally about Wolf because everything I’ve said about The OF. Tape Vol. 2 also applies to Wolf. However, looking back at when Wolf dropped in 2013, it doesn’t feel the same.
Yes, OF still had Loiter Squad, Earl was back (he would eventually his debut studio album Doris in August of that year), and they were still going on tour together (my first concert was an Odd Future show either just before or just after Wolf released).
But something was off, and both Wolf and Doris make it clear. No, there wasn’t any (public) animosity within the group, but all the touring and extensive press coverage was catching up to them. The best, clearest source for this is Tyler’s verse on his track “Rusty.”
“Rusty” sees both Tyler and Earl pulling back the curtain and sharing the inside scoop on their lives, but Tyler’s verse is a 48 bar behemoth that comes off more as him venting than anything. The whole verse is too long for me to post here in full, but it is definitely worth a listen because it touches on a lot of what I’ve talked about thus far but in greater detail (also I can’t smoothly quote any one excerpt: context matters).
When Wolf came out, Tyler was 22, and the other members of OF were around the same age, some a little younger, and some older. The point is, they weren’t kids anymore. They were young adults becoming frustrated and tired of all the negative coverage, and only being known for their shocking lyrics instead of their actual talents and desires.
Very quickly, the individual members would begin quietly branching off and doing their own thing, with different sounds and styles not associated with their loud, vibrant/tie-dye, streetwear aesthetic of 2010-12.
By 2015, several members of OF were making cryptic social media posts that alluded to them leaving the group and/or the group not existing anymore, while others were denying such claims. There was never an official announcement that the group had dissolved: they just kind of…ended after a while (although Tyler and Hodgy apparently had/have some private beef that spilled over into the public here and there).
Every now and then, some of OF’s members will make appearances on each others’ social media, maybe even collaborate if we’re lucky, but that’s pretty much it. From 2008 to 2015, just seven years (five, if you start counting in 2010 when everyone else joined), Odd Future formed, rose to tremendous heights, battled controversy and negative press, and then (at some point) dissolved.
And, because life is funny, the halfway point between 2008 and 2015 is…2011, a.k.a. when Goblin kicked things into overdrive. Literally, the OF timeline of releases looks like the three-act structure model, with The OF Tape Vol. 2 being the climax of act two.
Of course, like I said at the beginning of this piece, all of the members are still active doing well for themselves, so this isn’t a, “oh, so-and-so fell off after Odd Future,” thing. Odd Future was a force in the early 2010s, made up of several incredibly talented artists.
They laid the ground work for many artists after them, and gave their fans something unique to latch on to. And, for that, they deserve their flowers.